For the second time in a year, a county prosecutor has determined Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne and his political-ally-turned-staffer Kathleen Winn violated campaign-finance laws during Horne’s 2010 run for office.

Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk on Thursday gave Horne 20 days to return nearly $400,000 in donations to an independent-expenditure committee, Business Leaders for Arizona, that Polk said illegally coordinated its efforts with Horne’s campaign.

Winn ran the independent-expenditure committee, which paid for a negative television ad targeting Horne’s opponent in the race, Democrat Felecia Rotellini. Following Horne’s victory, Winn joined the Attorney General’s Office staff.

Polk, in her order, said severale-mails and the timing of phone calls “provide convincing proof that Horne and Winn coordinated” on the development of the anti-Rotellini ad and on raising money to pay for the ad.

Therefore, Polk said, the cost of the ad must be counted as in-kind contributions to Horne’s campaign and not to the independent-expenditure committee.

The case landed in Polk’s office in June after Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett sent a letter to Solicitor General Rob Ellman asking Ellman to notify the Secretary of State’s Office of the law-enforcement agency selected to investigate Horne. Ellman sent the case to Polk.

Polk’s Thursday order is nearly identical to one issued last October by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, who, like Polk and Horne, is a Republican.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge threw out that order because of legal technicalities and procedural failings by the Secretary of State’s Office, which had also found reasonable cause to believe a campaign-finance violation had occurred.

Montgomery said he wasn’t surprised by Polk’s decision, adding that he hoped it would have political consequences for Horne, who has filed to run for re-election.

Horne and Winn have long contended that they did nothing wrong and that authorities have misinterpreted evidence, and they have criticized authorities’ investigative techniques.

After the release of Polk’s order, Horne spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said, “This case will proceed to a hearing where it will be proven that there was no coordination” between Horne and the independent-expenditure committee.

Winn’s attorney, Timothy La Sota, said that the order lacks merit and that Winn plans to contest it with the state Office of Administrative Hearings.

“We’re disappointed they’ve chosen to move forward,” he said. “We think their case is based entirely on speculation and conjecture.”

Horne’s attorney, Michael Kimerer, echoed that. “It’s the same as we’ve seen before, basically speculating that there were conversations when there’s really no evidence of that,” he said.

An attorney for Margaret “Meg” Hinchey, a former criminal AG investigator who took the allegations against Horne to the FBI, had no comment on Polk’s order. Hinchey left the Attorney General’s Office in September.

The case will likely become fodder in the 2014 attorney general’s race.

Mark Brnovich, a Republican challenger in the race, said the order further damages the public’s trust in the Attorney General’s Office.

“Republican primary voters want an AG candidate who has integrity and character — that’s what I’m bringing to the table,” he said. “We want an attorney general who works with law enforcement to investigate illegal activity, not one who is accused of being involved (in violating the law).”

Rotellini has filed to run again.

“While Tom Horne’s embarrassing term as attorney general has had many dark days, today is the darkest day of all,” said Rodd McLeod, her campaign spokesman. “He and his cronies manipulated the election system and, after that, the justice system in an effort to avoid taking responsibility for his lawbreaking.”

He said Horne should recuse himself from all Attorney General’s Office cases.

“How can any judge, colleague, attorney, defendant or Arizona citizen take seriously justice administered by an attorney general who so blatantly disrespects the law?” he asked.

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